I suppose the story begins the week before he was born. I went to the midwife the Tues before he came and everything was fine. He was head down and ready to go, which was nice to know. On the other hand, I felt like it was still early and he could possibly move.

That Thurs, I woke up and was sick, throwing up. I rested the best I could that day, and when I got up, I realized baby had switched positions on me. His head was now pushing on my sciatic nerve causing great pain. I thought it would get better, but it became excruciating over the next few days, I could barely walk.

My next appointment with the midwife was on Mon, at my house (thank goodness). She gave me some exercises to do to try to get him to move, but told me it would probably be another week.

I did the exercises through out the day, and just couldn't wait to go to bed. Got everyone else in bed and settled, but I just couldn't stay still and sleep. I got up and was doing wash around 11. Sometime after that, the contractions started. They weren't too intense, but they were coming 3-6 min apart. One of the girls got up, so I put her back to bed.

My husband got up at this point wondering why the washing machine was going at 1 am. I waited a while longer and called the midwife to see if she wanted to come. The last 2 births she delivered for me were 3 hours from start to finish, so yes, she thought she should come.

As we were setting things out, and getting ready, our middle daughter, Molly, (she's 4) got up. We could not get her to go back to sleep. She ended up helping us get everything together, and stayed up with us, although, when I would have a contraction she would look at me like I was nuts!

So the midwife comes and my SIL comes, but the contractions still weren't that intense. Things went on for couple of hours, they got worse. I was also having back labor, which I had never had before. Also, the bay was kicking me while I was in labor, I never had a baby kick me while I was in labor. I was so tired. Although she doesn't usually do them, around 5am she wanted to do an internal exam to see how far along I was and what she would recommend- she wasn't sure if I should try to rest, or if I should keep walking. Since I was only a whopping 2 cm after 5 hours of contractions, she told me to rest. She also told me she wanted to take me to the chiropractor to see if she could turn the baby, who was still sideways. In my head I thought, "You are crazy. There is no way I am getting into a car."

Molly finally fell back asleep, and my husband and I were able to rest for a couple of hours. Around 7, I heard my oldest daugther ask SIL for Cheerios and raisins. She was all dressed and ready for school, even though we told her she could stay home. She wasn't even fazed to see strange people in her house first thing in the morning. The other 2 woke up shortly after this, and my contractions finally became much more intense.

My SIL was going to take Madaline to school and take the other 2 with her for the day. Things were hectic for about 45 min while my husband was trying to get everyone ready to go.

I was so glad when eveyone was finally gone. It felt like forever, but once we got to this point, things moved pretty quickly. It was over in about 2 hours from that point.

Contractions were strong, but I was exhausted and just couldn't walk anymore. I collapsed in front of the birthing stool, where I would rest my head in between contractions. The midwife wanted me to walk or stand up, but I just couldn't do it. She tried to get me in a really comfortable birthing chair that rocked, but I didn't like that either.

I was saying things like: I don't want to do this anymore; I am done; Please make it stop; It's never coming out; When is my water going to break?

Finally shortly before 10, my water broke. I heard the midwife ask my husband if he wanted to catch the baby this time and he said, "No way, you're the professional". My body took over and pushed the baby out, finally. It was like I had no control. My husband said the baby came flying out, he has no idea how the midwife managed to hang on to him. We were all stunned it was a boy. All I wanted was to go to bed. I got cleaned up and was able to rest that day. I felt like I had been hit by a truck.

My SIL kept the girls until 7, so that was nice. She told them the baby came, but did not tell them it was a boy. Madaline came running in and was wondering why the baby had those clothes on, as they were blue, and not the pink she had picked out. We told her it was a boy and she said in a very puzzled voice, "But that's not what I wanted." Then she looked again and said, "Oh he is so cute, it doesn't matter."